Today, the International Energy Agency (IEA) released its annual World Energy Outlook (WEO) report. In response, Adam Scott, Senior Advisor at Oil Change International, issued the following statement:

“This misguided outlook has the potential to cause serious harm.

“It’s almost as if the IEA is hoping we will forget about the Paris Agreement. None of its core scenarios for the future of energy provide a reasonable chance that the world will avoid climate catastrophe.

“By refusing to provide a map for success in tackling the climate crisis in the future, the IEA has refused to accept that the fossil fuel era must come to a close in coming decades.

“Two years ago, 195 countries signed the Paris Agreement, agreeing to a goal of limiting a global temperature increase to well below 2°C and striving for 1.5°C. The science shows clearly that reaching that goal requires the fossil fuel industry to decline rapidly in coming decades.

“Why won’t the IEA provide a map to achieving this goal?

“Governments and investors using World Energy Outlook 2017 to make decisions will be only end up locking in climate failure.

“The IEA must help the world plan for success in reaching the Paris goals. That can’t happen until a real climate scenario forms the heart of World Energy Outlook.”